3.5% of the registration total.
Given the inherent risk of the
cattle business which include
market volatility, health, feed
cost, performance, and weather,
along with fixed and variable
cost of production, Limousin
needs to take a hard look at
where they are deficient from
the standpoint of economically
important traits and look to
improve on the weakest of
those if they want to expand
their reach commercially
and increase the amount of
registrations for the breed.
Leading the list to improve
upon is the marbling trait for
Limousin. NALF displayed and
discussed the current market
price structure information to
the membership by displaying
the current annual spreads
the fed cattle market is
experiencing on the Choice-
Select price spread. The spread
between choice and select
product reached a record this
year in June to $30/cwt on a
carcass weight basis which
is the equivalent of $240.00
per head basis an 800-pound
carcass. Most cattle today
are being harvested at much
higher outweights and much
higher carcass weights in
today’s environment. That
dollar difference is also now
apparent in the fourth quarter
of the year when seasonal
demand for primals increases
during the holiday season, as
many consumers are cooking
prime ribs through the holiday
season that must grade choice
or higher. That has forced the
spread back out to nearly
$20.00/cwt in the fourth quarter
further discounting cattle that
hit the select quality grade.
If Limousin breeders would
address and attack the marbling
trait, like what they did with the
docility issue the last 20 years,
genetic progress on this trait
could be made exceptionally
fast given the advent of current
genomic testing available today.
Kill data was displayed on both
commercially fed purebred
Limousin and Lim-Flex cattle
that excelled in both quality
grade and yield grade, which
resulted in significant premiums
through various grid programs.
We have cattle that hit the mark,
we just need to concentrate on
making more of them to expand
commercially and continue
to work on improving our
marbling EPD breed averages
on all classes of cattle. These
cattle will also be in more
demand the next decade with
the ever-expanding export
market that continues to
grow for U.S. beef overseas.
Opportunity is increasing for
agricultural commodities as
evidenced by the increasing
cattle on feed numbers,
increase in beef production and
higher cow slaughter, despite
the prod uction increases,
prices have increased over
last year. Recent changes in
the current administration’s
policies towards deregulation,
tax cuts, trade negotiations
and lower unemployment has
helped to maintain the cattle
market despite increased
production levels with increased
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